Do I have to file Form 8606 for small non-deductible contribution?

[csiefring]

I have a small ($30) non-deductible traditional IRA contribution.  Do I have to file f8606 if I’m not going to bother tracking the basis in the future?  It does not seem worth tracking as a basis over many years, when each future distribution would be just a few dollars and tax on that a few cents.

[dmertz]

If you fail to file Form 8606, you won't get credit for the basis and it will be taxed again when eventually distributed.

How do you know that you will not have any basis in the future to add to the total?

Do you have only a small amount of money in a traditional IRA?  If so, report the nondeductible traditional IRA contribution and convert everything to Roth in 2020.  In the case of small amounts, paying the taxes on the taxable amount now and having to pay no taxes on the growth in Roth IRA once the requirements are met will be more beneficial than leaving the tax-deferred money in the traditional IRA to continue to grow taxably.

Of course if TurboTax is requiring you to upgrade from the Free Edition to Deluxe just to be able to file Form 8606, paying, say, $10 of unnecessary tax in the future would be better than paying the extra cost of TurboTax Deluxe now.

[csiefring]

You're making a lot of assumptions.  I will not be making more non-deductible contributions and already use turbo-tax home and business (I get this was a joke).  I'm close to a marginal tax bracket boundary, so large conversion to Roth may not make sense.

[dmertz]

No joke.   These questions and answers tend to be read by many people with many different tax situations, so on occasion I include information that can be useful to a more general audience.